Saint Basil Cathedral in Moscow
450th Anniversary of Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow
This magnificent 450-year-old cathedral is a symbol of Moscow, actually, of Russia. “It is like no other Russian building. Nothing similar can be found in the entire millennium of Byzantine tradition from the fifth to fifteenth century … a strangeness that astonishes by its unexpectedness, complexity and dazzling interleaving of the manifold details of its design.” (Shvidkovsky, 2007)
The Saint Basil’s Cathedral is a Russian Orthodox Church erected on the Red Square in Moscow in 1555–61 and was consecrated on July 12, 1561. Although popularly known as St. Basil’s, this legendary building is officially called “The Cathedral of the Intercession of the Virgin by the Moat”. The church has been operating as a division of the State Historical Museum since 1928. And since 1990 it has been a part of the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The building’s design, shaped as a flame of a bonfire rising into the sky, has no analogues in Russian architecture. It has 8 distinctive onion-shaped domes. The building itself is made up of separate chapels. There is a ninth spire in the middle, forming an eight-point star.
The Saint Basil’s Cathedral marks the geometric center of the city and the hub of its growth since the 14th century. The original building, known as “Trinity Church” and later “Trinity Cathedral”, contained eight side churches arranged around the ninth, central church of Intercession; the tenth church was erected in 1588 over the grave of venerated local saint Vasily (Basil). In the 16th and the 17th centuries the church, perceived as the earthly symbol of the Heavenly City, was popularly known as the “Jerusalem” and served as an allegory of the Jerusalem Temple in the annual Palm Sunday parade attended by the Patriarch of Moscow and the tsar.
Identity of the architect or architects is unknown. Tradition held that the church was built by two architects, Barma and Postnik: the official Russian cultural heritage register lists “Barma and Postnik Yakovlev”. Researchers proposed that both names refer to the same person. Legend held that Ivan blinded the architect so that he could not re-create the masterpiece elsewhere, although the real Postnik Yakovlev remained active at least throughout the 1560s.
The foundations, traditionally for medieval Moscow, were built of white stone, while the churches themselves were built of red brick, then a relatively new material (the first attested brick building in Moscow, the new Kremlin Wall, was launched in 1485). The builders, fascinated by flexibility of the new technology, used brick as decorative medium inside and outside, leaving as much brickwork open as possible; when location required use of stone walls, they decorated it with brickwork pattern painted over stucco.
The Saint Basil’s Cathedral acquired its present-day vivid colors in several stages from the 1680s to 1848. Russians’ attitude to color in the 17th century changed in favor of bright colors; icon and mural art experienced an explosive growth in number of available paints, dyes and their combinations. The original color scheme, missing these innovations, was far less challenging. It followed the depiction of Heavenly City in the Book of Revelation: “And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold”
The domes, covered with tin, were uniformly gilded, creating an overall bright but fairly traditional combination of white, red and golden colours. Moderate use of green and blue ceramic inserts provided a touch of rainbow as prescribed by the Bible
The Saint Basil’s Cathedral was built on the order of Ivan the Terrible to commemorate the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan. Ivan IV Vasilyevich, known in English as Ivan the Terrible (the name, which, although usually translated as “Terrible”, actually means something closer to “Redoubtable” or “Severe” and carries connotations of might, power and strictness rather than horror or cruelty), was Russian tsar from 1533 until his death. His long reign saw the conquest of the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia, transforming Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state spanning almost one billion acres (4,046,856 km2).
Ivan IV managed countless changes in the progression from a medieval nation state to an empire and emerging regional power, and became the first ruler to be crowned as Tsar of All Russia. Historic sources present disparate accounts of Ivan’s complex personality: he was described as intelligent and devout, yet given to rages and prone to episodic outbreaks of mental illness. One notable outburst may have resulted in the death of his groomed and chosen heir Ivan Ivanovich, which led to the passing of the Tsardom to the younger son: the weak and possibly mentally retarded Feodor I of Russia.
Book your trip to Moscow with Altair Travel.
For reservation and information please contact Altair Travel: 416-633-9404
December 31, 2013/ altair / European Vacations
450th Anniversary of Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow
This magnificent 450-year-old cathedral is a symbol of Moscow, actually, of Russia. “It is like no other Russian building. Nothing similar can be found in the entire millennium of Byzantine tradition from the fifth to fifteenth century … a strangeness that astonishes by its unexpectedness, complexity and dazzling interleaving of the manifold details of its design.” (Shvidkovsky, 2007)
The Saint Basil’s Cathedral is a Russian Orthodox Church erected on the Red Square in Moscow in 1555–61 and was consecrated on July 12, 1561. Although popularly known as St. Basil’s, this legendary building is officially called “The Cathedral of the Intercession of the Virgin by the Moat”. The church has been operating as a division of the State Historical Museum since 1928. And since 1990 it has been a part of the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The building’s design, shaped as a flame of a bonfire rising into the sky, has no analogues in Russian architecture. It has 8 distinctive onion-shaped domes. The building itself is made up of separate chapels. There is a ninth spire in the middle, forming an eight-point star.
The Saint Basil’s Cathedral marks the geometric center of the city and the hub of its growth since the 14th century. The original building, known as “Trinity Church” and later “Trinity Cathedral”, contained eight side churches arranged around the ninth, central church of Intercession; the tenth church was erected in 1588 over the grave of venerated local saint Vasily (Basil). In the 16th and the 17th centuries the church, perceived as the earthly symbol of the Heavenly City, was popularly known as the “Jerusalem” and served as an allegory of the Jerusalem Temple in the annual Palm Sunday parade attended by the Patriarch of Moscow and the tsar.
Identity of the architect or architects is unknown. Tradition held that the church was built by two architects, Barma and Postnik: the official Russian cultural heritage register lists “Barma and Postnik Yakovlev”. Researchers proposed that both names refer to the same person. Legend held that Ivan blinded the architect so that he could not re-create the masterpiece elsewhere, although the real Postnik Yakovlev remained active at least throughout the 1560s.
The foundations, traditionally for medieval Moscow, were built of white stone, while the churches themselves were built of red brick, then a relatively new material (the first attested brick building in Moscow, the new Kremlin Wall, was launched in 1485). The builders, fascinated by flexibility of the new technology, used brick as decorative medium inside and outside, leaving as much brickwork open as possible; when location required use of stone walls, they decorated it with brickwork pattern painted over stucco.
The Saint Basil’s Cathedral acquired its present-day vivid colors in several stages from the 1680s to 1848. Russians’ attitude to color in the 17th century changed in favor of bright colors; icon and mural art experienced an explosive growth in number of available paints, dyes and their combinations. The original color scheme, missing these innovations, was far less challenging. It followed the depiction of Heavenly City in the Book of Revelation: “And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold”
The domes, covered with tin, were uniformly gilded, creating an overall bright but fairly traditional combination of white, red and golden colours. Moderate use of green and blue ceramic inserts provided a touch of rainbow as prescribed by the Bible
The Saint Basil’s Cathedral was built on the order of Ivan the Terrible to commemorate the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan. Ivan IV Vasilyevich, known in English as Ivan the Terrible (the name, which, although usually translated as “Terrible”, actually means something closer to “Redoubtable” or “Severe” and carries connotations of might, power and strictness rather than horror or cruelty), was Russian tsar from 1533 until his death. His long reign saw the conquest of the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia, transforming Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state spanning almost one billion acres (4,046,856 km2).
Ivan IV managed countless changes in the progression from a medieval nation state to an empire and emerging regional power, and became the first ruler to be crowned as Tsar of All Russia. Historic sources present disparate accounts of Ivan’s complex personality: he was described as intelligent and devout, yet given to rages and prone to episodic outbreaks of mental illness. One notable outburst may have resulted in the death of his groomed and chosen heir Ivan Ivanovich, which led to the passing of the Tsardom to the younger son: the weak and possibly mentally retarded Feodor I of Russia.
Book your trip to Moscow with Altair Travel.
For reservation and information please contact Altair Travel: 416-633-9404
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